Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty on the work of her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions treats its responsibilities under the Armed Forces Covenant very seriously and has a number of special rules and arrangements in place.
These range from National Insurance Credits for forces spouses who have a gap in their records because they have accompanied their partner overseas; to exemptions to residency tests to those who have served abroad; to a network of Armed Forces Champions in Jobcentres who provide expert help and support to those veterans who need it most.
As we reform and modernise our services, and make other changes, we will, of course, continue to consider the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to better equip local police forces to ensure the safe return of missing children.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that police forces are equipped to respond appropriately urgently when children go missing, and that missing people and their families receive the best possible protection and support.
The Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice, issued by the College of Policing, sets out best practice guidance for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure the safe return of missing children.
The National Police Chief’s Council has also developed a ‘Missing Children from Care Framework’ which aims to ensure that children in care receive appropriate and timely responses when their whereabouts are unknown. This should reduce the risk of harm; help return the child to their care setting; and, reduce the likelihood of repeat missing incidents.
The new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection will also improve the response to missing children by developing best practices and delivering training to officers across a range of vulnerabilities.
Recognising that many children go missing as a result of county lines exploitation, we are also providing specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation, and this includes funding Missing People’s SafeCall service, which provides a national, confidential helpline and support for young people, families and carers who are concerned about county lines exploitation.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to develop a cross-Government strategy for reducing the numbers of missing children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government champions the need for an effective multi-agency response that reduces the number of children going missing, whether this is from a family home or from the care of the local authority.
The department’s long-standing statutory guidance on safeguarding children at risk of going missing is already clear on the expectation that local authorities and safeguarding partners need to work together to reduce missing episodes, and to respond effectively when children do go missing.
In addition, the government’s statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ promotes robust information-sharing across safeguarding partners, which we know is essential for identifying local contexts and disrupting local patterns of behaviours that can raise the risk of children in and outside the care system going missing, including being missing from education.
Children in care can be especially vulnerable to going missing. That is why the department, working with the Home Office, has supported the National Police Chiefs' Council to develop a ‘Missing Children from Care' framework. This good practice framework can be adopted by local areas when designing their multi-agency protocols for strategic and operational responses to missing episodes, ensuring that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
Since April, the government is providing £500 million to local authorities nationally, to roll out family help and multi-agency child protection support. We have set up the Families First Partnership programme to support the delivery of these reforms, with local areas beginning transformation from April 2025.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to improve connections between the Greater Manchester City Region and (a) Yorkshire, (b) the Liverpool City Region and (c) North Wales.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has already demonstrated its commitment to improving Northern transport infrastructure. At and since the Budget last Autumn, further commitment and funding has been provided for key transport programmes in the North, including the Transpennine Route Upgrade, an £11 billion programme that will transform rail connectivity from Manchester through to York.
Through City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) Round 1 (2022/23–2026/27), the Government has also provided Greater Manchester Combined Authority with £1 billion to invest in local transport priorities.
Future investment priorities for Northern transport infrastructure will be considered in the round as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Infrastructure Strategy will support infrastructure enhancements in the North West.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy will reduce uncertainty by bringing together a long-term plan for the social, economic and housing infrastructure across the UK, including the North West
Alongside considering the UK’s economic and social infrastructure needs, the strategy will set out how we are reforming institutions and changing the way we make decisions and deliver infrastructure, maximising the benefits of our strong fiscal and spending frameworks, breaking down regulatory and planning barriers, and resetting our relationship with the private sector.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support the Northern Arc infrastructure project.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has already demonstrated its commitment to improving Northern transport infrastructure. At and since the Budget last Autumn, further commitment and funding has been provided for key transport programmes in the North, including the Transpennine Route Upgrade, an £11 billion programme that will transform rail connectivity from Manchester through to York.
Future investment priorities for Northern transport infrastructure will be considered in the round as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to provide fiscal autonomy to the North West.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The English Devolution White Paper sets out an enhanced Devolution Framework for both existing and new strategic authorities across England. It creates a consistent approach to providing Mayors with the power to decide what is right for their areas. It includes the ability for all Mayoral Strategic Authorities to use a Mayoral Precept on Council Tax on a full range of functions, and the ability to raise a Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy to fund strategic infrastructure once a Spatial Development Strategy is in place. It also sets out a clear and transparent pathway for areas to be designated as Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities and therefore become eligible for an Integrated Settlement. These reforms will also give greater fiscal autonomy to Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities, including those in the North West, by removing the funding silos created by Whitehall.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support single parents re-entering the workforce with funding to access high-quality childcare.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Single parents of children aged nine months and over may qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. Each parent needs to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at National Living Wage and no more than £100,000 per year adjusted net income. This is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,158 per year (in 2025/26).
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme is also available to eligible working parents, including eligible single parents, and aims to help parents work, return to work, and work more when they want or need to. It can save eligible working parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities.
Where households (including single parent households) do not meet the eligibility requirements, they may still qualify for support through the 15-hour entitlement for two-year-olds receiving some additional forms of support. All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education regardless of their parent’s income.
Parents may wish to explore support through Universal Credit childcare. If eligible, parents can receive help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of early years funding models in supporting (a) parents and (b) guardians who work fewer than 16 hours per week.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Single parents of children aged nine months and over may qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. Each parent needs to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at National Living Wage and no more than £100,000 per year adjusted net income. This is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,158 per year (in 2025/26).
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme is also available to eligible working parents, including eligible single parents, and aims to help parents work, return to work, and work more when they want or need to. It can save eligible working parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities.
Where households (including single parent households) do not meet the eligibility requirements, they may still qualify for support through the 15-hour entitlement for two-year-olds receiving some additional forms of support. All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education regardless of their parent’s income.
Parents may wish to explore support through Universal Credit childcare. If eligible, parents can receive help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of single parent family access to high quality childcare settings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Single parents of children aged nine months and over may qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. Each parent needs to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at National Living Wage and no more than £100,000 per year adjusted net income. This is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,158 per year (in 2025/26).
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme is also available to eligible working parents, including eligible single parents, and aims to help parents work, return to work, and work more when they want or need to. It can save eligible working parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities.
Where households (including single parent households) do not meet the eligibility requirements, they may still qualify for support through the 15-hour entitlement for two-year-olds receiving some additional forms of support. All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education regardless of their parent’s income.
Parents may wish to explore support through Universal Credit childcare. If eligible, parents can receive help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare.